This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge has had me on the run. This is what Cherie over at the WordPress Daily Post says:

‘…whether you love it or hate it, selfie-portraiture is indeed a thing, and an expression of our ever-evolving culture in our digital age.’

Very true, but I don’t make a habit of taking photographs of myself! I know that others taking part in this challenge will be much more creative and cleverer than I, suggestions of silhouettes and shadows abound in this Challenge post.

Then it came to me. A photograph I took when on holiday in France in 2012. I remembered a day when I was upstairs in the bedroom of the farmhouse where Hubby and I were staying. I was faffing about with my camera because I was having problems with a couple of its settings.

There was a full length mirror in the room and at last, having fixed the problem, I remember looking up and noticing I was standing in front of it. For some unaccountable reason, I decided to test my camera, using the flash, by taking a photo of myself standing in front of the mirror to see what would happen, what it would look like. I liked the way the flash ‘bounced’ off the glass of the mirror.

Who knew that I would be using that very photograph for a blog post sometime in the not too distant future…

Problem solved then! Here is the end result, my selfie, after some heavy editing of brightness, contrast and cropping which I did for the purposes of this post.

France, 2012(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

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About Sherri Matthews

While writing to publication of her memoir, 'Stranger in a White Dress', Sherri has been published in national magazines and a variety of anthologies in memoir, essays, articles, poetry and flash fiction. Sherri gardens, walks and takes endless photos, the better ones she shares on her blog, along with articles about travel, Asperger's Syndrome and her life as a Brit Mum raising her family in California for 17 years. Today, Sherri lives in England with her husband, Aspie youngest and their pet menagerie, fondly known as 'Animal Farm.'

Thanks Pat!! I didn’t have the time today to be creative with this post and I was panicking. Then I remembered taking this photo a couple of years ago and I thought with the way the flash ‘sparked out’ as it bounced off the mirror’s glass, it would be a good disguise, of sorts!! It hides my expression which is quite stilted and odd! 🙂

Funny how teenagers are so adept at them and I only manage out of focus, with a double chin, face totally in shadow. I guess it’s an example of youth having the advantage.

I do think that when I do manage it, it’s strangely usually the first one that is the best and they get worse after that. As with this selfie that’s not meant to be a selfie, it’s actuallyquite intriguing! You look like you are starring in a sci-fi film.

Ha ha! I guess so! Young people today seem to be so adept at ‘selfies’. You see them everywhere, posing for them.
I do remember liking the way the flash looked when it bounced off the mirror’s glass. When I edited this photo the flash showed up even more, and I liked the way it provided a semi-disguise!!!! I like what you say about a sci-fi flm though…maybe I should audition for Dr Who, ha 😉

Haha! yes, it is me – and thanks Jude for the vote of confidence. My husband took this long distance snap of me when we were walking around a crater on Vesuvius – he was miles in front and I was chatting to our friend while the pair of us were bringing up the rear 🙂

Ooooh….well now I’m busted, you found me out Tess, ha 😉
Yep, strange isn’t it? I don’t even think I knew what a blog was when I took this photo, never mind using the pic for a selfie on a blog post!!!!

Ha Ha! Thanks Bev, but I can assure you I am not a photo whizz by any stretch of the imagination. That ‘special effect’ was not my doing, just the way the flash sparked off the mirror glass. Still, glad it worked and you like it 🙂

Ha Ha! Thanks Heather! I’m glad it turned out the way it did with a few tweaks (purely experimentation, I can assure you, as I am no photo editor!) and glad I had the flash effect. Purely coincidental 🙂

And now we have it, the poster for the female remake of THE OMEN…
A few years ago, Sherri, on a friend’s 50th birthday, her husband had given her a new camera. To capture forever the celebration, we all lined up front to back–all 17 of us–and we had to quickly bend over, shoot a picture between our legs (we were all in jeans or shorts) of the person behind us, and so on, reaching the end of the line in hopefully 3 minutes or less.
If any of us ever wanted to run for public office, these pictures would end the possibility, but we had a lot of fun. I doubt any of us would do it again, though.

Ha Ha! Yep, that’s me, scary as hell… 😉
That sounds like a blast, hilarious, and what a fantastic idea! Oh I would love to see those photos Marylin, but I know I never will, lol!!! What a great way to commemorate your friend’s 50th though, just wonderful.
Definitely one for the album (private, of course!) 😉

Ha Ha! Thanks Robin and yes, now that you mention it, I can see the ‘snowball’ effect! I was really happy with the way the flash scattered off the mirror, totally unexpected and even better when I cropped the photo and edited the brightness 🙂

Love that Bulldog, thanks so much! Interesting that you and Robin above both saw this ‘snowball’ effect which is purely the way the flash exploded against the glass. I’m so glad I remembered taking this pic as I had no idea what to use, but really glad you like it 🙂

Love your version of the theme. Indeed Selfie is a “thing” now and half of the planet are into it. The other half like me wished there’s a way to evade taking one’s own picture. Good thing there’s photo magic now. We can take selfies and still retain that mysterious self we keep to ourselves.

I’m with you on that about the ‘selfie’ Island Traveler. I, too, wish it were not so! And yes, thank goodness for ‘photo magic’. If it hadn’t been for the flash in this one (and the editing) I would never have put it up there. As it is, I took it standing in front of a mirror just for fun rather than looking right into the camera while holding it which I suppose is a ‘true’ selfie!! No way would I put one of those up here! Important, absolutely, to keep some mystery…thanks so much 🙂

Oooh, now I do like this! 🙂 Very moodily-lit and artistic, as people have said. The best artworks come from accidents/messing around, I find. Maybe I’ll consider reopening negotiations about that graphics assistant job 😉 I do not see myself as an oil painting and don’t really want to inflict myself on others, so as such I don’t feel the motivation to ‘selfie’; even the word makes me cringe a bit… God, you can tell I’m in my 40s now.

Oh I’m so glad you like it JG! Do I get the job NOW????? 😉 I think you should do a selfie, you are so creative and inventive I just know you could come up with an excellent take on this. When I first saw this theme I cringed and thought ‘oh no’ so I was glad to remember this photo 🙂

Thanks so much Theresa, I’m really glad that you liked it! I was really surprised when I took the photo at the way the flash looked but it wasn’t until I cropped and edited it for this post a couple of year’s later that I saw it for its full effect 😉

Thank heavens for old photos that we took of ourselves in the past. Being a non- selfie, I was planning to use old shots too but Valentines came and I got a chance of a lifetime. I was anxious and nervous but it’s called a challenge for a reason, right? Take care and have a great week.